Gujarat polls: Ex-MLA Madhubhai Thakor joins BJP

Ahmedabad: Former MLA and Shankarsinh Vaghela loyalist Madhubhai Thakor joined BJP with his supporters in the presence of party's national vice-president Purshottam Rupala.

Vaghela, who severed ties with BJP in 1995-96 and formed Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP), has now lost two of his confidantes, Girish Parmar and Madhubhai Thakor, to BJP. The RJP had later merged with the Congress.

BJP supporters in Ahmedabad. AFP

When asked about Congress leader Digvijay Singh's indirect reference to Modi as Ravan, Rupala said, "This is the Congress culture. They call a leader monkey, rat and Ravan. We don't want to answer such things. We know how to answer such abuses, but we won't do so."

When asked about RJP's merger with Congress and now his own return to BJP's fold, Thakor said it was then a collective decision to merge with Congress, and he had to abide by that.

On Wednesday, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president Girish Parmar left Congress and joined the saffron party. Parmar has been fielded from Danilimda, a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste candidate, where he is up against Shailesh Parmar of Congress.